Runnymede’s Environmental Characteristics

Access to Green Space

‘Green infrastructure’ is defined as a network of multifunctional green and blue spaces and other natural features, urban and rural, which is capable of delivering a wide range of environmental, economic, health and wellbeing benefits for nature, climate, local and wider communities and prosperity. One of Natural England’s green infrastructure principles is that everyone should be able to access good quality parks, greenspaces, and recreational walking and cycling routes that are inclusive, safe, welcoming, well-managed and accessible for all. The following map identifies the Borough’s accessible open spaces, and how accessible they are at a borough-wide and neighbourhood scale, reflecting the baseline information presented in the Open Space Study.

The following map identifies the Runnymede area’s accessible open spaces, and how accessible they are at a Runnymede-wide and neighbourhood scale, reflecting the baseline information presented in the Open Space Study.

Access to Green Space Headlines

Overall, Runnymede has a good distribution of accessible, open spaces across each settlement area, at various sizes offering various functions – from accessible natural greenspace (ANG), to allotments, to children and teenagers play space, to parks and recreation grounds. The borough-wide ANGSt standard (having a greenspace of at least 20ha within 2km) is met, largely down to proximity to Windsor Great Park and Chobham Common, and this would likely to still be the case even if the population were to grow.

However, some areas of the Runnymede area lack sufficient access to smaller ANG and other open spaces of sufficient quality. The Council’s Open Space Study presents all the baseline information on quantity, quality and accessibility to the Borough’s accessible open spaces, and describes how the new Local Plan can address deficiencies in provision.

What does this mean for the Local Plan?

The new Local Plan, as far as it is able to do so and without repeating national decision-making policies (NDMPs), should continue to protect, maintain and where possible enhance existing open spaces to encourage quality and accessibility improvements. NDMPs will prevent the loss of these spaces in certain circumstances. Site allocation policies should continue to require the provision of new open space where there is a deficit in the local area, and/or to contribute to the improvement of off-site open space through developer contributions. Any new provision should meet certain quantity and quality standards.

Sources of further baseline information:

Detailed baseline information and how this information will inform the new Local Plan can be found in the Council’s Open Space Study at:

Sources of other useful information: